AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
President Joe Biden speaks Friday, Dec. 8, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Published Friday, Dec. 8, 2023 | 1:20 p.m.
Updated Friday, Dec. 8, 2023 | 4:26 p.m.
President Joe Biden expressed condolences to those impacted by Wednesday’s fatal shooting at UNLV and called for more action to prevent gun violence.
Biden spent part of his time in Las Vegas on Friday meeting with students and others in the UNLV community.
Biden opened his remarks by thanking first responders for their heroics and said he’s grieving “yet another” act of gun violence. He also noted the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip — which remains the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history — still remains fresh in the mind of many Nevadans.
“This is not normal, and we can never let it become normal,” Biden said. “People have the right to feel safe, be safe, and I’m fighting to make sure they do. But all these actions I’ve taken as President of the United States to end this gun violence epidemic is not enough. We need Congress to step up.”
The shooting Wednesday at UNLV left three faculty members dead and a fourth hospitalized in stable condition, authorities said.
The gunman, identified by Metro Police as 67-year-old Anthony Politi of Henderson, was killed in a gun battle with UNLV Police detectives outside the university’s business school.
“I’m grateful law enforcement risked their lives and safety in that shooting spree,” Biden continued. “You saved lives.”
The president was received by the five Democrats of the six lawmakers who make up Nevada’s congressional delegation, who also told attendees it’s time to take action.
“What happened on the campus, it’s a tragedy,” U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said. “It was senseless. And I’m eternally grateful to the brave responders that stopped it from being a worst tragedy. We are forever in their debt (and) their actions saved countless lives.”
At Biden’s direction, federal law enforcement are assisting local authorities and providing “all necessary assistance,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told pool reporters before Friday’s event. That includes using the newly established Office of Gun Violence Prevention to coordinate federal resources to help survivors of the shooting.
Jean-Pierre noted that the shooting at UNLV came less than 24 hours after a separate mass shooting that killed six people in San Antonio, Texas.
“We know it’s not just the victims and survivors who need support, but this violence rips apart entire communities,”Jean-Pierre said.
Rosen, along with U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Reps. Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford, said they had come to Friday’s event after attending the funeral of Nevada State Trooper Alberto Felix — one of the two Nevada State Police troopers killed last week after a suspected hit-and-run crash along Interstate 15. They urged that Nevadans come together at times that might be difficult for the community at large.
“We know that Las Vegas is strong and we come together as a community,” Lee said. “We rebuild and we survive and we come out better than before.”
